Religion vs. Faith

In today's class, a fellow student brought up the question of whether or not religion is necessary to form a society. One of the points I thought was most interesting was that without religion, we would not know what was considered moral. After thinking about this point, I have come up with my opinion on the subject.

In my opinion, there is a difference between religion and faith. One can be faithful without practicing religion. Religion, as another student pointed out, is more of a central idea that concerns all of society. Faith, on the other hand, is a belief in a higher power, which in most cases is a god. So with that in mind, my answer to the question is that a society can follow the main confucian idea of benevolence above all else, without religion. One can live without an organized religion and still gain knowledge on good morals from a higher being through their faith.